Bunny and Gemma

Newtown Oral Histories

Below are a selection of excerpts from oral history interviews with residents of the Newtown area recorded in 1994 & 1995 for the South Sydney Oral History Project. The interviews were conducted by Dr Sue Rosen of Heritage Assessment and History (HAAH).

See also Sue Rosen’s book We Never Had a Hotbed of Crime, life in twentieth-century South Sydney, a social history based on extensive interviews with seventy South Sydney residents for the South Sydney Oral History Project. Signed copies are available for purchase from Sue Rosen, you can also purchase copies from Archives, or loan a copy from the City of Sydney Libraries.

City Oral Historian Margo Beasley has edited the sound files, click on the links to listen to the audio or read the transcripts

The Sydney Oral Histories site, curated by the City of Sydney’s History Unit, captures and shares the experiences of people from all walks of life within the City of Sydney. Listen to excerpts or full interviews, and read full transcrips of Sue Rosen’s interviews with Newtown area residents Kate Dunbar and Henry Brown, you can also hear more from Frank Altoft and Loretto Thurgood.